1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus that forms an image and outputs the generated image on a sheet and an image forming system in which a plurality of image forming apparatuses are interconnected through a network.
2. Description of the Related Art
Image forming apparatuses such as a printer, a facsimile, and a copying machine, and a multi-function machine having a plurality of functions have a function of forming an image based on image data and outputting the image onto a sheet. Generally, the above-described function is realized by controlling the hardware of the image forming apparatus using firmware that executes on an operating system (OS).
In addition, image forming apparatuses are known which control each unit thereof by enabling a plurality of OS's to execute (for example, see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2010-191543).
In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2010-191543, an emulation device has been proposed which includes a virtual operating system OS1 operating controller software and an operating system OS2 operating operation unit software and handles communication between a controller and an operation unit as communication between the operating systems OS1 and OS2.
In addition, a computer system has been proposed in which the resource use rates are informed by a plurality of physical servers having virtual machines operating therein, and live migration of a virtual machine operating in a physical server having a shortage of resources to a physical server having sufficient resources is performed (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2011-197852).
However, in image forming apparatuses, there is a request for realizing various functions other than the process relating to image formation such as a function for operating an application handling a document by starting an operating system (for example, Windows or Linux (both are trademark)) used for a general personal computer (PC) in the image forming apparatuses, in addition to an original operation of the image forming apparatuses relating to image formation.
However, since apparatus control firmware controlling such an image forming apparatus has only a function for controlling the image forming apparatus built therein, a process such as editing data to be output and the like is impossible to be performed in the apparatus, and it is necessary to perform the operation using the PC having the original data.
In order to fulfill the above-described request, an apparatus of a multi-OS may be considered which operates a guest operating system other than a host operating system operating the image forming apparatus in parallel with the host operating system.
However, in an apparatus requiring performance stability like the image forming apparatus, when hardware resources are shared between the original operating system of the image forming apparatus and another operating system, hardware resources are consumed by the guest operating system, and there is a concern that the original performance of the image forming apparatus that is needed the most may be degraded. Accordingly, cases occur in which the guest operating system ends when the resources of the guest operating system are desired to be used by the host operating system due to a job input or the like in the multi-OS environment, and it is necessary to wait for the end of the job.
In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2011-197852, while a measure that performs live migration to a physical server having sufficient resources based on the use rate of the resources has been proposed, a measure that, in precedence to the original operating system of the image forming system, enables another operating system to be operated by another image forming apparatus has not been proposed at all. When migration is performed only from a viewpoint of the sufficiency of resources, there may be a case where the host operating system of the image forming apparatus is not operable.
The present invention is directed to provide an image forming apparatus and an image forming system that enable a second operating system, which performs other processes other than the process relating to the image forming apparatus, to be operated by another image forming apparatus in accordance with the processing state of image formation.